Pretty Coloured Concepts

So someone on my personal InsaneJournal flist had a link up to DrawerGeeks and a couple of the images there pinged with me and pinged hard.

The flister linked to Wonder Woman drawings in particular and I was hit hard, right between the eyes by this one. Muscles, strength, a bit of a cocky if sincere smile. Have I mentioned how much I like the artist who did Rucka's run on WW? Rucka played up the myth elements I old so dear. But I also wanted to lick that WW and work in the embassy. She was strong and elegant and powerful, confident and complex and mesmerizing.

Among the drawings on the WW page, I also liked this one. In my head I think of her as 'Political Activist Wonder Woman' - A savvy no nonsense super heroine well schooled on international law and the laws of the countries with the most heinous acts against women, who rescues or helps mugging victims while dashing from conference to conference and who stalks through the streets of foreign cities doing battle with gods and demi-gods there who influence the people to keep women down.

Just Barely Not Crotchless WW was my second least fav. Because despite the thong she's active. Whereas this WW... I suppose I should be able to see it as a woman enjoying the breeze perhaps or something like that. But the whole pose just says 'object for male gaze' and I can't seem to find any strength in it.

I can see her turning to meet Talking!Barbie at an open air cafe. You remember that Talking Barbie, right? The one who said "Math Is Hard'.

The Princess Lei Page has me thinking I may need to find out which of the Star Wars Comic TPB's are good. Because wow, after so much Padme in the face I'd forgotten what a strong human woman (or at least human seeming) looked like.

Covered neck to toe, with just a sliver of shin and thigh showing but so much strength and attitude. Yes, I too (like some of the boys) had my 'OMG Princess Leia is HOT' moment. Though it had nothing to do with the gold bikini - except for the part where she was strangling Jabba. That was seriously hubba.

A little more thigh showing but still Leia attitude. Leia as Asian which I'd never really considered before, despite the hairstyle. A wonderful active, active, suddenly big eyed anime loss of agency combination of sketches, that does without words what I feel a whole bunch of various blog entries have tried to say about active heroine vs male prize.

And then there's this. I don't care how stick figure it seems. It hit me right in the chest that not only had I never thought of Leia (or the princess) as possibly being Asian, I'd never imagined her brown. < -- This relates more to my recent private practice of mentally (or on private spreadsheets) creating a People of Colour version of popular fictional worlds.

Medusa isn't a a superhero - tradtionally anyway, But some of the art there is rich fodder for the imagination.

Oh and not to leave out the men - this image - is evocative of about 70% of how I feel about Superman.

In Other News: I've been thinking about if to call this a 'comics blog/journal' or if to find some way to include my hunting for heroes through anime and brightly coloured art. I'm still trying to figure out if I want to move it. Blogger confuses me when I'm weary - no layouts I like and something about it just... it jars me out of the headspace to write in SA. Otoh, I'm disliking Livejournal's policies, I moved my personal journal already, and 6Apart just switched CEO's. It's not as I get a ton of traffic here to be contributing to their content offerings, eyeballs for ads blah blah. But I'm still feeling hinky about being here. Like I left an abusive situation but I go back to do laundry.

omg please I think it's squee

Dear People,

Online Comic-book stores. Good ones. Tell me.

I want The Marvel Tarot.

MUST SHOP.

Speak quickly before the urge passes and Marvel becomes 'those ratty bastards' again.

People of Colour in SF Blog Carnival

Submissions here for the next PoC SF Carnival. :)

Just a little nudging.

Deadline is September 25th/2007

For Christmas I Want A Male Genetalia Guillotine

http://rationalmadman.blogspot.com/2007/09/whats-really-wrong-with-wonder-woman.html

So I read this post about Wonder Woman and I'd have commented on WFA if I could find the damn comment button. But since I couldn't...

"Gets between the wonder thighs"

The misspelling of Xena as Zena.

Wanting Wonder Woman to seduce bad guys.

Wanting her to beat up on bad guys without a second thought...

I understand fully that Wonder Woman's purpose in the world is difficult to get a grasp on. And I fully agree that there should be far more godly and demi-godly goings on in her titles. I've believed for a while that she should be here to protect man's world from the gods, so that man can still have free will - that Wonder Woman wants to remind mankind that they don't have to bow down before every semblance of power and that peace through inner strength is something every individual can attain.

But "Gets between the wonder thighs"?!!!

I know I tend to see WW as a feminist asexual or lesbian figure and that's just me. But wtf? On the one hand this poster is talking about making WW more than a mouthpiece for issues, making her iconic in a way that Superman and Batman are for the very basest and slowest and simplest of comic book readers. But his path to that is all about getting men to identify with the man who 'gets between the wonder thighs'.

Obviously I'm having trouble finding words about how violating this idea seems.

Are there stories I know nothing about where comic book guys get to fantasize putting the superpeen to some woman other than Lois Lane? Or the BatCondom gets slicked up with the yoni juices of a whole host of women because...well Batman needs a break from his g'damn mission ?

Y'know I like the thought of WW with a consistent support cast. I like the thought of her with a significant other. Heck I happen to think the concept of Steve Trevor as a laid back, feminist male interesting, despite my personal feelings about WW as lesbian icon.

But wtf?

It's difficult to take a women warrior seriously all the time?

Why?

Is it difficult to take seriously a mere mortal battling super powered aliens and meta-humans on equal footing? No. When it's Batman we don't blink - because it's BATMAN.

Why should it be any different to go 'Oh, she can punch through a steel wall because she's WONDER WOMAN'.

I feel...slimed. I'm well aware this is my personal thing - but I feel slimed that someone looks at WW and thinks the easiest way to make her relatable is to have some guy get between the wonder thighs - as if the way to make WW popular is to remind male viewer's she's still nothing but pussy.

Just...

Slimed.

I mean there I was reading and thinking - Ok, make her relavant and bring in the gods and give her a true purpose other than something vague, make her the people's living goddess and yeah there should be something about the atrocities committed against women, hmm hmm maybe she should could be connected to some version of a feminist amnesty international.

And then all of a sudden - slimed.

I'm not saying it's wrong to think that of the Big Three, WW could be the one with gentle humor. Because that would actually be nice. She's beautiful when she laughs and humor and laughter are about a lightening of the human spirit. And it'd make her distinct from 'The Boy Scout' and 'The Dark Knight'. But humor because her strength isn't believable even in the world of fantasy?

And 'get between the wonder thighs'....

Just...

I feel sick and I want to cry at the realization that anyone would think that way about her and feel it should become part of her general characterization.

I love superheroes but g'damn I'm fed up with this 'Superheroes are for boys, so boys come first' bullshit. Yes boys had Robin Hood, but Red Riding Hood came first and she tricked the Wolf into setting her free in the original stories. Just because our early years heroes wear glass slippers and ball gowns and run away from home to get away from insane letcherous fathers doesn't make the superhero groove any less deep or set early for lack of those characters having penises.

"Get between the wonder thighs."

G'damn I need to go watch Buffy hit Parker in the head with a tree limb now.

More On The Squee

I'm still reading and thinking of the suggestions provided with my last post. But I've found myself seriously wondering about the direction of Seeking Avalon and what I have to say.

Right now I feel as if it's not comics I want to talk about and/or comics that I love - but Superheroes. I love superheroes. I'm going to think about this in a little while, along with the definition of a superhero, whether or not there are characters who would be called superheroes if they were in comics vs being in novels or on TV.

I'm also going to think about the fact that I have white people fatigue. I was looking at scans from Black Canary recently. And I like Black Canary. But all I could see was blonde Dinah and blonde Ollie and I just felt tired. Really, really, tired. And fed up. And omgwtfthey'reeverywhere! Which of course is life, but why is it bugging me so much right now?

Virgin Comics is looking more and more like good possible refuge. Have to look up the trades.

But Where Has The Squee Gone?

The first anniversary of Seeking Avalon has come and gone without comment. I'd been hoping to move the journal off livejournal and to post more.

But RL stuff has eaten up a lot of my time and thoughts and recently when I get to comics I'm just so pissed off it feels draining.

I don't want Seeking Avalon to die off without even a full year's worth of posts. I like it. I like that I started talking. I like where that talking took me.

I'm just...oddly joyless atm.

Where's the squee?

I've lost my squee. And it makes me more down than Austin Powers when he lost his Mojo.

I need to get my hands on Spiderman Loves Mary Jane and Blue Beetle, because I hear people squeeing from that corner of the comic world a lot.

G'damn I miss my squee.

I'm so...pissed.

I'm pissed at Joss taking over Runaways - because if I want Jossstyle I'll pick up Angel or Buffy Season 8.

I'm pissed at losing the chance to be current in BOP while Gail Simone is doing it. But that's an old withered bit pf piss.

I'm shaken wary pissed at what's to come next with Supergirl.

I'm sick and tired of hearing half the internet go 'OMG WTF They're RUINING KYLE!'

Dude, it's not ASBAR, shut up.

I'm pissed at being diplomatic. I'm pissed at trying to see other people's pov. I'm pissed at the persona re-invention that I've observed to happen in some blogs or with some bloggers every 3 to 6 months.

I'm pissed people like Scott over at Yahoo even exist on the same planet and breathe the same air. I feel about him the way I felt about general white South Africans during Aparthied.

Where's my squee?

I need squee.

Maybe I should go back to trying to do a character analysis every once in a while. I have fallen in love with new characters since i started writing about comics.

Still, I need more squee than that.

Anyone got squee? Are you willing to share?

In Other News: Anime. Yay 12 Kingdoms. Yay Bleach. Boo TokyoPop for telling me I'll get one fricking 12 Kingdom Novel a year. That's 11 fricking years dirtwads!

Issue #2

The Second Carnival is up.

It's been an interesting month for People of Colour.

Everyone please go check it out and thank Wychwood for all her hard work. Read and tell your friends and get them to tell their friends.

Tiny Note: In recent discussions there has been conflict over the general use of the term 'people of colour' and the lack of the use of the term 'non-white'. If my choice disagrees strongly enough with someone that they choose not to participate then I'm sorry for the loss.

Usage Note: Dissatisfaction with the implications of nonwhite as a racial label has doubtless contributed to the recent popularity of the term person of color and others, such as woman of color, with the same construction. In effect, person of color stands nonwhite on its head, substituting a positive for a negative. It is interesting that the almost exclusive association in American English of colored with Black does not carry over to terms formed with "of color," which are used inclusively of most groups other than those of European origin. See Usage Notes at colored, nonwhite.   1, 2

Just One Question

Why is Storm farting at the veiwer? Is she perhaps demonstrating her distate for this cover?



I go back to being too depressed to read now. Updates...sometime in future. Move over of Seeking Avalon - also some time in future.

PS: I'm told (by the person who showed me this image) that Boobisaurous (Titania) is someone who's taken on Hulk, She-Hulk and Thor. Thor, he who is a god (or a demi-god depending on if he's sharing a body - point is, big ass powers). But her head is smaller than the male arms.

PoC SF Carnival: Deadline Aug 20th

Tomorrow 'round 8pm or so is the deadline for the August Issue of the People of Colour in Scifi & Fantasy Blog Carnival.

I know a goodly number of people have contemplated moving LJ or have moved etc. Which is yet another reason I'm glad that there's a blog-spot central place (where I will also be posting this).

Last minute links for the Carnival should be sent now.

<< Also random damning of livejournal >>

Brief Comment

I've been distracted by a lot lately; the use of the word miscegenation in Harry Potter fandom, Livejournal and 6Apart's utter cockfuckery. The fact that Seeking Avalon will now definitely be moving; despite the fact that I'm not quite ready for it; my philosophies and 6aparts aren't going to jel any longer.

All that said, and all that busy acknowledged, I have to give a nod to Kalinara for finally, finally banning Scott from her blog.

Cue my wonderfully voiced gospel choir.

Scott's a white male. He could never really understand what it is to grow up and be made aware by everyone black around you, of what to look out for re: institutional racism and how just being black affects walking down the street, getting a job, whatever.

There are some people who have been in situations where being white made them the minority. And in those situations there was violence and bullying sent their way. They have a good clue about feeling persecuted. But if they could get away from those circumstances the persecution would not follow.

There aren't places where minorities, especially blacks in America, can go without feeling some level of institutional racism if not simmering hatred and persecution.

Now since Scott is male, I think there is no way he could ever really understand, and that he outright refuses to even try to comprehend, what it means to be a woman; having to constantly be aware of power dynamics and strength dynamics, your body and your body's vulnerabilities, and the creepy objectification that's part of the rape act.

I don't think he's capable of understanding how we're incredibly aware of every time a heroine says to someone or is given a flashback of; 'and then some male stuck his penis in me against my will - so now I fight crime'

Scott and people like him will not get that the last thing women reading superhero comics want to see is:

I WAS MADE A TRADITIONAL VICTIM OF MALE POWER DOMINANCE VIA SEXUAL OBJECTIFICATION AND NOW IN ORDER TO RECOVER MY PRIDE - I FIGHT CRIME.

I love Batman. Batman was the child victim of a mugging gone wrong. It led to him being an orphan, it led to him wanting to save his city and prevent any other child from facing such horrors in the night.

Bruce or Bryce, Batman's story stays the same.

Kal or Kala, Superman's story stays the same.

Hal or Hannah. John or Jane. Barry or Beatrice. Wally or Willa.

There is no sense of them having been damaged from the inside out, surviving brutal thrusts that bruise and tear sensitive skin, internal friction agitation that feels like lava in your core, being emptied into like a waste receptacle, of having someone else get off on you being weaker - in the stories of those heroes.

Felicia Hardy. Hippolyta. Barbara Gordan (voyeuristically violated). Helena Bertenelli. Dina Drake. Jessica Drew (mind control also with torture).

These are just off the top of my head. See here for Ragnell's and Kalinara's original list.

It's a long list. It's too long. It's too many heroines violated, objectified and made into play things, immortalized in poses of weakness, lacking agency.

And don't tell me that Batman gets strung up and Flash has a nemesis and Kal-el is made weak by Kryptonite.

Cause until Lex Luthor lubes up a shard of glowing green rock and tells Superman to 'Bend over baby and take it like a man' - I think you'll be seriously missing my point about the violation of the heroic persona. Of how these powerful, charismatic, against the grain women must have according to their creators, moments where they are nothing but soft skin, blood and available holes to be taunted; where they are reminded not that they're bad heroes, not that they've made mistakes, not that they're not going to save the world; but instead are reminded that at the end of the day - THEY ARE NOTHING BUT WOMEN.

Up next, my total wtf over the racism and sexism and rampant colonialism in Fables: Arabian Tales

Cue: Gospel Choir hinting at Doom.